With winds blowing up to 30 knots to close out its Spring Series the Kinsale Yacht Club season on Saturday, the south coast club's season is off to a great start with both the Sovereign's Cup in June and the Half–Ton Worlds in August in prospect reports Bob Bateman 

Busy pro–sailor Maurice O'Connell steered the JPK10.80 Rockabill to victory in DBSC's first Thursday night (with Mark Pettit on tactics) on Dublin Bay before joining Jump Juice (Ker 37) on mainsheet for the final race in Kinsale on Saturday. See Afloat.ie's photo gallery here.

Jump skippered by Conor Phelan had to come from behind as she missed first two races so had to win. 'We got the old girl up to 17.9 knots with our new S3 kite up, O'Connell told Afloat.ie

Rival Freya (X442) Conor Doyle was going well at the windward mark at Black Head but then lost her boom in the blustery conditions. Boomless Freya still managed to finish and did enough to win class one on ECHO handicap and to be second on IRC.

The White Sail division had two races starting inside the Harbour such were the blustery conditions. 

One of the smallest boats in Class 3, White Magic (Alan Mulcahy) clocked 14.3 knots on a downwind leg. James Matthew was showing real ability in flyng a kite on the downwind (see our photo gallery here), also achieving some great speeds on the new–to–Kinsale quarter–tonner, Diamond.

Early indications indicate a buoyant entry for June's Sovereign's Cup with up to ten J 109's planning on doing the three day event, Up to 15 1720s and up ten half tonners who will be gearing up for their worlds in August also in Kinsale. The biennial event may also benefit from the timing of the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race which allows Dublin race partcipants to stop off and do the Sovereigns Cup on the way north.

Full results on the KYC website here

Kinsale Yacht Club's Spring League closed out yesterday in fine style in strong southerly winds on the South Coast.

Bob Bateman captured the action and his photo gallery is below:

Saol Eile's Paraic O’Maolriada and wife Myra sailed around the world under the Kinsale Yacht Club burgee writes Bob Bateman. It took the couple six years returning late last season. They picked up an Afloat Sailor of the Month Award for their endeavours and an Irish Cruising Club trophy earlier this month. Last week KYC members got a fascinating insight into life onboard their 63-footer with a detailed lecture from the couple at the West Cork club house.

On the same night, Deirdre Lane of Irish Lights Navigation Services took club members on a journey around Irish lighthouses, Navigation aids and weather buoys.

Exciting racing is anticipated in next Saturday's Kinsale Yacht Club Spring Series Class One IRC with only one point separating the top four boats writes David Sullivan. Justus and EOS on 12 points followed by Jump Juice and Freya with 13 points. Only one long coastal race is scheduled.

Artful Dodger holds a three-point lead over Slack Alice in Class Two IRC with Bad Company Third.

Sponsor James Matthews, sailing his Ed Dubois quarter tonner Diamond, is making a clean sweep of Class Three IRC with five bullets placing him in an almost unassailable position.

The Spinnaker Fleet on the W/L course saw a SE Zephyr build to a slight breeze. The Race Officer got fleet away to a windward mark just south of Sovereigns. Calm seas downwind saw the fleet keeping north out of the flood tide on the run to leeward mark near Hake Head. Two laps were sailed in the first race with a shortened one-lap course sailed in race two.

Class 1
Jump Juice (C Phelan) got two bullets with Justus (D Buckley) Freya (C Doyle) sharing six points each.

Class 2
Artful Dodger (F O’Regan) got two bullets Slack Alice (S Strathem) second with five points and Bad Company (Desmond/Ivors/Deasy) third on six points.

Class 3
The Ed Dubois quarter tonner Diamond (J Matthews) dominated both races in IRC and is now first overall with Flyover (D Marchant) second and No-Gnomes (L Donnery) third overall in IRC.
The seven boat White Sail fleet White Sail had two excellent races on a Matthews, Kieran Electrical, Bulman Triangle.

White Sail: The McCarthy Brothers are now in first place overall on Baccarat with eight points, Crosshaven boat Sweet Dreams (B&H O’Leary) second and Paragon (D Ackerlind) third.

Full Results here

Racing continues on Saturday 29th FG 11.55 HRS

Race Officers – Siobhan Keane Hopcraft, Denis Kieran, Michele Kennelly & Seamus Caher.

James Matthews, sailing his Ed Dubois quarter tonner Diamond, made a clean sweep of class three at the Kinsale Yacht Club Spring Series and is now leading by two points writes David Sullivan. Conor Phelan’s Jump Juice pulled out all the stops winning both races in class one IRC.

Calm seas with light NW winds made cool heads and smart tactics the order of the day as the twenty boat spinnaker fleet set off on a beat to Bulman and long downwind leg to the O'Leary Life mark. The second race, in even lighter winds, had a W/L loop between Matthews and Kiernan Electrical with the finish just south of Bulman.

Class 1
Jump Juice (C Phelan) got two bullets on the day with EOS (C McCarthy) now in first place overall in IRC.

Class 2
Bad Company (Desmond/Ivors/Deasy) also got two bullets with Slack Alice (S Strathem) in first place overall in IRC.

Class 3
The Ed Dubois quarter tonner Diamond (J Matthews) dominated both races in IRC and is now first overall with Flyover (D Marchant) second and No-Gnomes (L Donnery) third overall in IRC.

White Sail The seven boat White Sail fleet sailed to Matthews mark with a beat to a shortened course finish in the harbour mouth. The second race saw the fleet tacking in and out of the tide on an Axiom / Bulman loop.
Sweet Dreams (B&H O’Leary) won the day with the McCarthy Brothers now in first place overall on Baccarat.

Full results here

Racing continues on Sunday 23rd FG 11.55 HRS
Race Officers – Siobhan Keane Hopcraft, Denis Kieran, Michele Kennelly & Denis Cudmore.

The Sovereign’s Cup at Kinsale Yacht Club will have an afternoon start for all cruiser–racer fleets on the first day of racing on June 21st.

The first gun for the biennial cup has been pushed back to 1355hrs to make it easier for sailors travelling down to Kinsale on the Wednesday morning. 

The move is designed to save on a nights accommodation costs in the West Cork port and assist sailors in having to take one day less off from work. Organisers say they hope the move will attract an 'even bigger and better fleet from around the east and west coasts'. 

KYC says an amendment to the Notice of Race for the O'Leary Life sponsored event will be published shortly to reflect these changes.

Sponsor James Matthews of the Matthews Centre sailing store leads his own sailing event after he topped a six boat class three of Kinsale Yacht Club's Spring Series yesterday. Matthews is sailing his newly acquired Diamond, an Ed Dubois designed quarter tonner.

The opening day saw the twenty boat spinnaker fleet under the AP flag for 20min until the wind settled. It was well worth the wait however, as the fleet sailed an excellent offshore W/L course. The sun came out for race two which had the weather mark in Bullins Bay providing a steady strong breeze with a long downwind leg towards Sovereigns.

Class 1
EOS (C McCarthy) swapped places with Justus (D Buckley) in race two with Freya (C Doyle) in third place overall in IRC.

Class 2
Artful Dodger (F O’Regan) and Slack Alice (S Strathem) swapped first and second in race one and two with Rhett Butler (T Kingston) third overall in IRC.

Class 3
The quarter tonner Diamond (J Matthews) dominated both races in ECHO and IRC with Flyover (D Marchant) and No-Gnomes (L Donnery) third overall in IRC.

White Sail
1st race started in light winds with a fetch to Bulman. The McCarthy brothers dominated the seven boat fleet coming in first on corrected with Magic Elfin (P Kelly) second and Sweet Dreams (B&H O’Leary) third. The 2nd race was sailed in brisk conditions finished at Charlesfort with LaoZour (G Grant) leading the way followed by Paragon (D Akerlind) and Bacaret (McCarthy Bros). Overall standings are 1st Baccaret 2nd LoaZour 3rd Magic Elfin.

The omens are good with many more boats being launched and fetching up in Kinsale for day two on Easter Monday April 17th.

Race Officers were Siobhan Keane Hopcraft, Denis Kieran, Seamus Caher & Michele Kennelly

Full Results here

Kinsale Yacht Club has announced O’Leary Life & Pensions as headline sponsors of its 2017 Sovereign’s Cup regatta.

June's biennial event has a good number of spinnaker and white sail cruisers entered as well as 1720 sportsboats, a class that is holding its European Championships during the event from June 21–24.

Another vintage Quarter Tonner will be joining the Irish fleet with the news that the Ed Dubois designed Diamond (GBR 6498) has been bought by a well known Dragon sailor from Kinsale Yacht Club.

The Quarter Tonner, built by John West of Lymington in 1984, looks to be a top notch addition to the local fleet with a hull faired by Ovington Boats in 2006 and dry sailed since.

Her rig was redesigned by the Dubois office in 2009 and structural work by Ian Lovering of Ashdown Marine.

A new single spreader Z Spar rig was added in 2010.

She has a complete suit of North 3DL sails, new in 2011 with only six regattas of use. The boat was advertised for sale at £15,000

23 boats confirmed so far and target is to get to 28-30 for the Kinsale Yacht Club staging of the Half Ton Classic Cup this August. As no French boats are declared yet, it looks likely that the West Cork club will meet or exceed its target. Dowload the entry form and the Notice of Race below.

Ireland will field a strong team with Checkmate XV, Harmony, The Big Picture, King One all set for the trip from Dublin. Cork's George Radley will unleash his latest half tonner Cortegado.

Windsor Laudan and Stephanie Ennis’ stalwart Demelza will lead the Irish hopes for the production series which is open to all boats that were eligible to be half tonners and were production boats and the hope is more Shamrocks will join them.

On the international front, nthe news is that Swuzzlebubble has been bought in Cowes and is being ramped up to defend her title by a pro team. Nigel Biggs returns to the circuit with a newly optimised Checkmate XVIII (ex Dick Dastardly) that is currently receiving surgery. Paul Wayte from Swansea is also working up a refurb of a HB31 called Headhunter that is also being totally revamped so the fleet will be split in two between fully optimised half tonners and more original halfs. Paul Pullen’s Miss Whiplash also has some unfinished business and will definitely be vying for the title with her and some other Half–tonners coming over earlier in the summer to participate in some other Irish regattas.

The Half Ton Classic Cup series consist of daily races between Monday 14th August 2016 and Friday 18th August and will include a mix of both coastal and round–the–cans races.

Race Programme:

Sunday 13 August 15:00 Practice starts followed by practice race

Monday 14th 11:00 First warning signal for 1st race of the day, 2 other races following

Tuesday 15th 11:00 First warning signal for 1st race of the day, 2 other races following

Wednesday 16th 11:00 First warning signal for 1st race of the day, 2 other races following

Thursday 17th 11:00 First warning signal for 1st race of the day, 2 other races following

Friday 18th 11:00 First warning signal for 1st race of the day, 1 other race following